Suicide Inducement Crime And Punishment
The offense of directing suicide is regulated under Article 84 of the Turkish Penal Code and is among the crimes against life. With the crime of directing suicide, it is envisaged to punish the person who causes suicide and the person who encourages suicide. In the crime of incitement to suicide, the law regulates that the person who causes suicide will be punished separately depending on whether the suicide occurs or not.
First of all, in order for this crime to occur, the person must encourage or incite someone other than himself/herself to commit suicide, or cause the idea of suicide to become stronger or to occur. This offense does not occur when a person commits suicide. Here, in order for the crime of incitement to suicide to occur, a person must create the idea of suicide in another person, strengthen the existing idea of suicide, encourage or instigate suicide. If the person does not encourage suicide, but causes the suicide of a person by using force and threat, it is seen that the crime of intentional homicide, not the crime of directing suicide, has occurred here. On the other hand, this crime is a deliberate crime
In the relevant crime, the perpetrator is the person who commits the crime of directing suicide (encouraging suicide, instigating suicide, reinforcing the decision to commit suicide or ensuring that it occurs, etc.) The victim can be anyone. It is not important whether the perpetrator knows the victim or not. If the victim is unable to know the consequences of suicide (mentally handicapped, physically handicapped, minors…), he/she will be punished not for the crime of directing suicide, but for the crime of intentional manslaughter.
Qualified Conditions of the Crime of Directing Suicide
The qualified forms of the offense of incitement to suicide are specified in TPC 84/2 and TPC 84/3. According to TPC 84, only the person who encourages suicide, instigates suicide, reinforces the decision to commit suicide or in any way helps another person to commit suicide will have committed this offense.
TCK 84/2 stipulates that the penalty to be imposed will be increased if the suicide occurs.
TCK 84/3 stipulates that persons who publicly encourage others to commit suicide will be punished as a qualified case.
Those who encourage people to commit suicide who have not developed the ability to perceive the meaning and consequences of the act they have committed (people with incomplete mental development, minors or people in similar situations) or those who force people to commit suicide by using force or threats will be punished according to the provisions of intentional homicide, not the crime of directing suicide.
The penalty for the crime of incitement to suicide is regulated within the framework of TPC 84. Accordingly, anyone who instigates suicide, encourages suicide, strengthens someone else’s decision to commit suicide or assists someone else’s suicide in any way will be sentenced to imprisonment from 2 years to 5 years.
The penalty to be imposed on the person who causes suicide in the event of suicide is imprisonment from 4 to 10 years.
The penalty to be imposed on the person who publicly encourages others to commit suicide is imprisonment from 3 to 8 years.
Those who encourage people who have not developed the ability to perceive the meaning and consequences of the act they have committed or whose ability to perceive the meaning and consequences of the act has been eliminated, and those who force people to commit suicide by using force or threat are held responsible for the crime of intentional homicide. The offense of intentional homicide is included in Article 81 of the TPC. According to Article 81 of the TPC; the person who intentionally kills a person is punished with life imprisonment.
The statute of limitations for the relevant crime will be determined by taking into account the statute of limitations according to the penalties to be imposed according to TCK 66. According to TCK 66, the statute of limitations is 8 years for crimes that require imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a judicial fine. For crimes that require imprisonment for more than 5 years and less than 20 years, the statute of limitations is 15 years, and for life imprisonment, the statute of limitations is 25 years. Accordingly, in the crime of directing suicide, the statute of limitations will be evaluated according to the nature of the incident.
The competent and authorized court in this crime is the Criminal Court of First Instance in the place where the crime is committed. In the event that the person who commits suicide is unable to understand the situation and consequences of this act (persons with disabilities or minors) or is forced to commit suicide by force or threat, the provisions of the crime of intentional homicide will be applied, and in this case, the competent court will be the Assize Courts located in the place where the crime is committed.